| 1981 St. Louis Cardinals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| League | National League | |||
| Division | East | |||
| Ballpark | Busch Memorial Stadium | |||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | |||
| Record | 59–43 (.578) | |||
| Divisional place | 2nd | |||
| Owners | August "Gussie" Busch | |||
| General managers | Whitey Herzog | |||
| Managers | Whitey Herzog | |||
| Television | KSDK (Jack Buck,Mike Shannon,Jay Randolph,Dan Kelly) | |||
| Radio | KMOX (Jack Buck,Mike Shannon,Dan Kelly) | |||
| ||||
The1981 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 100th season for theSt. Louis Cardinals inSt. Louis,Missouri and the 90th season in theNational League. 1981 was a season of two significant anomalies: A change in the playoff format, which created the first-everNLDS with a qualification variant that existed only for that season, andthe players' strike, which truncated the regular season. Despite finishing 59-43, good for the best overall record in theNational League East, the strike set up the scenario where the Cardinals actuallymissed the playoffs. The regular season was split into halves to tally teams' records separately in each half of the season, and because the Cardinals finished in second place in each half, they did not qualify for the 1981 playoffs.Major League Baseball reverted to the previous playoff formatthe following season, andthe Cardinals qualified for that postseason.
First basemanKeith Hernandez won aGold Glove this year.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals | 59 | 43 | .578 | — | 32–21 | 27–22 |
| Montreal Expos | 60 | 48 | .556 | 2 | 38–18 | 22–30 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 59 | 48 | .551 | 2½ | 36–19 | 23–29 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 46 | 56 | .451 | 13 | 22–28 | 24–28 |
| New York Mets | 41 | 62 | .398 | 18½ | 24–27 | 17–35 |
| Chicago Cubs | 38 | 65 | .369 | 21½ | 27–30 | 11–35 |
| NL East First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies | 34 | 21 | .618 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 30 | 20 | .600 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Montreal Expos | 30 | 25 | .545 | 4 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 25 | 23 | .521 | 5+1⁄2 |
| New York Mets | 17 | 34 | .333 | 15 |
| Chicago Cubs | 15 | 37 | .288 | 17+1⁄2 |
| NL East Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Expos | 30 | 23 | .566 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1⁄2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 25 | 27 | .481 | 4+1⁄2 |
| New York Mets | 24 | 28 | .462 | 5+1⁄2 |
| Chicago Cubs | 23 | 28 | .451 | 6 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 21 | 33 | .389 | 9+1⁄2 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | |||||
| Atlanta | — | 3–2–1 | 6–5 | 4–8 | 7–7 | 3–7 | 3–3 | 4–5 | 2–3 | 9–6 | 5–7 | 4–3 | |||||
| Chicago | 2–3–1 | — | 1–5 | 1–6 | 6–4 | 4–7 | 5–8–1 | 2–10 | 4–10 | 3–3 | 5–5 | 5–4–1 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 5–6 | 5–1 | — | 8–4 | 8–8 | 5–4 | 7–3 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 10–2 | 9–5 | 0–5 | |||||
| Houston | 8–4 | 6–1 | 4–8 | — | 4–8 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 4–6 | 2–4 | 11–3 | 9–6 | 2–4 | |||||
| Los Angeles | 7–7 | 4–6 | 8–8 | 8–4 | — | 5–2 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 6–5 | 7–5 | 5–5 | |||||
| Montreal | 7–3 | 7–4 | 4–5 | 2–5 | 2–5 | — | 9–3 | 7–4 | 10–3 | 4–2 | 2–5 | 6–9 | |||||
| New York | 3–3 | 8–5–1 | 3–7 | 3–6 | 1–5 | 3–9 | — | 7–7 | 3–6–1 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 6–5 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 5-4 | 10–2 | 2–5 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 4–7 | 7–7 | — | 7–5 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 7–6 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 3–2 | 10–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–10 | 6–3–1 | 5–7 | — | 6–4 | 3–7 | 3–8 | |||||
| San Diego | 6–9 | 3–3 | 2–10 | 3–11 | 5–6 | 2–4 | 5–2 | 2–4 | 4–6 | — | 6–7 | 3–7 | |||||
| San Francisco | 7–5 | 5–5 | 5–9 | 6–9 | 5–7 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 7–3 | 7–6 | — | 2–3 | |||||
| St. Louis | 3–4 | 4–5–1 | 5–0 | 4–2 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 5–6 | 6–7 | 8–3 | 7–3 | 3–2 | — | |||||
| 1981 St. Louis Cardinals roster | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders
Other batters | Manager Coaches | ||||||
| = Indicates team leader |
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Darrell Porter | 61 | 174 | 39 | .224 | 6 | 31 |
| 1B | Keith Hernandez | 103 | 376 | 115 | .306 | 8 | 48 |
| 2B | Tom Herr | 103 | 411 | 110 | .268 | 0 | 46 |
| SS | Garry Templeton | 80 | 333 | 96 | .288 | 1 | 33 |
| 3B | Ken Oberkfell | 102 | 376 | 110 | .293 | 2 | 45 |
| LF | Dane Iorg | 75 | 217 | 71 | .327 | 2 | 39 |
| CF | Tony Scott | 45 | 176 | 40 | .227 | 2 | 17 |
| RF | George Hendrick | 101 | 394 | 112 | .284 | 18 | 61 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sixto Lezcano | 72 | 214 | 57 | .266 | 5 | 28 |
| Gene Tenace | 58 | 129 | 30 | .233 | 5 | 22 |
| Mike Ramsey | 47 | 124 | 32 | .258 | 0 | 9 |
| Tito Landrum | 81 | 119 | 31 | .261 | 0 | 10 |
| Gene Roof | 23 | 60 | 18 | .300 | 0 | 3 |
| Orlando Sánchez | 27 | 49 | 14 | .286 | 0 | 6 |
| Steve Braun | 44 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 0 | 2 |
| David Green | 21 | 34 | 5 | .147 | 0 | 2 |
| Glenn Brummer | 21 | 30 | 6 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Julio González | 20 | 22 | 7 | .318 | 1 | 3 |
| Neil Fiala | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| = Indicates league leader |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lary Sorensen | 23 | 140.1 | 7 | 7 | 3.27 | 52 |
| Bob Forsch | 20 | 124.1 | 10 | 5 | 3.18 | 41 |
| John Martin | 17 | 102.2 | 8 | 5 | 3.42 | 36 |
| Silvio Martínez | 18 | 97.0 | 2 | 5 | 3.99 | 34 |
| Joaquín Andújar | 11 | 55.1 | 6 | 1 | 3.74 | 19 |
| Andy Rincon | 5 | 35.2 | 3 | 1 | 1.77 | 13 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Shirley | 28 | 79.1 | 6 | 4 | 4.08 | 36 |
| Dave LaPoint | 3 | 10.2 | 1 | 0 | 4.22 | 4 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Sutter | 48 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 2.62 | 57 |
| Jim Kaat | 41 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3.40 | 8 |
| Mark Littell | 28 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4.39 | 22 |
| Jim Otten | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.30 | 20 |
| Bob Sykes | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.58 | 14 |
| Joe Edelen | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.35 | 10 |
| Doug Bair | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3.45 | 14 |
| Luis DeLeón | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.35 | 8 |